Donald Goddard, 75, Journalist and Author

By WOLFGANG SAXON

Published: August 10, 2003

Donald Goddard, a trans-Atlantic journalist and an author of books on organized crime, died on Sunday at his home in Burgess Hill, Sussex, England. He was 75.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, said his wife, the former Carol Dudding.

A native of London, Donald Charles Goddard attended the University of Edinburgh and started a career in public relations before moving to New York in 1960. He worked as an editor at The New York Times Magazine and as managing editor of the short-lived Scanlon's magazine before returning to England in the 1970's.

For many years, into the late 1980's, he contributed to The Times Book Review and the paper's travel section, for which he wrote features about historic Britain and its contemporary scene, along with guides for visitors.

His first book was ''Blimey! Another Book About London'' (Quadrangle, 1972). Reviewing it in The Times Book Review, Anthony Burgess called it an even mix of ''intelligent high-journalese exposition of generalities'' and ''totally trustworthy particularization,'' and advised travelers to take it along on visits.

His other books include ''Joey'' (Harper & Row, 1974), a biography of the mobster Joey Gallo, and ''Easy Money'' (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1978), a nonfiction thriller that tracked a Cuban-American in Miami who was venturing into the high-stakes drug trade.

''All Fall Down: One Man Against the Waterfront Mob'' (Times Books, 1981) told the true story of an unlikely hero, a stevedore bucking dockside racketeers as prosecutors moved in.

He also wrote ''Undercover: The Secret Lives of a Federal Agent'' (Times Books, 1988), a snapshot of the nation's losing battle against narcotics traffickers.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Goddard is survived by three sons from his first marriage, Adrian, Mark and Julian. His first marriage ended in divorce. His second wife, Natalie Donay Goddard, died in 1991.